Watch: Lisa Andersen shine in epic advertisement!

I am completely biased, seeing that Lisa Andersen is my favorite surfer, but the newest advertisement from UK pharmacy chain Boots is the best of the year. I, like, you perk right up anytime surfing crosses into the mainstream. I watch Point Break (2015) and cringe. I watch Jeep’s Discover the Journey feat. Jordy Smith and turn away with tear-filled eyes. It’s just not right. It’s never right.

Until Lisa Andersen.

The beauty of this advertisement, featured in Adweek, is in its figurative approach. Surfing is very difficult to translate to a mainstream non-surf audience. It seems as if creatives always fall back on cliche or hyperbole when trying to capture elements of the lifestyle. This one succeeds by being gorgeously abstract. And of course Lisa is gorgeous.

I spoke with her just after she had come back from South Africa, where the piece was filmed, and she said the responsible ad agency (Mother London) was phenomenal. I asked what the most difficult part of the campaign was and she told me that she would have to sit in the cold water for long stretches at a time. The production crew would worry and ask if she needed breaks but, like a true, surfer she never flinched, knowing that it is impossible to get back in to cold water once exiting.

And let’s chat with her again!

What was the best part of the experience?

The best part was acting in a studio with such cool people in the cosmetics industry and the overall feeling of accomplishment at the end of production. Hard work and it has hopefully paid off and everyone enjoys the ad.

What was the most difficult part?

It was challenging to get the surf clips because the surf wasn’t very cooperative. We only had so many hours to complete a few shots that had to be very specific for the production crew. I’m used to just surfing for surf photographers and this was very different.

Is acting or surfing more difficult?

Hahaha acting for sure! I had so many takes for some scenes but at the same time it was fun and worth every take to get it right. It was important for me to come across as natural and not awkward even though I am an awkward person. (ed. note: She is not an awkward person. At all.)

Which pro surfers on tour are your favorites right at this moment?

My favorites to watch right now are Caroline Marks and Griffin Col. The young guns are inspiring and, like with all new generations, are raising the bar. I like seeing the change. It’s what surfing needs.

Amen and we will be hearing more from Lisa in the very near future. As you may, or may not, know I am almost almost almost done with Trouble: The Lisa Andersen Story. The incomparable editor, Jesse Schluntz, worked an honest to goodness 24 hour shift last week. I would be but a clanging gong without that man.

SHARE

Loading comments...

First thought, 'How the fuck is that guy not on Tour?' Seriously, can someone explain to me how the fuck Jack Robinson is not on Tour. A thousand journeyman flowers can bloom but we can't get Jack in the big leagues? | Photo: WSL/Cestari

Margs, Day 1: “How is Jack Robbo not on tour?”

A thousand journeyman flowers can bloom but we can't get Jack in the big leagues?

Did you get caught out by the start of the comp today/tonight like me? Wasn’t it weird. I got no notification from the WSL app and was right down a worm hole reading comments on a story about a canuck who carved up a deer leg in front of a bunch of protesting vegans when I flicked over to the WSL site and caught Jack Robinson doing an absolute number on eight-foot North Point. A number that turned out to be the pinnacle performance of the day.

First thought, ‘How the fuck is that guy not on Tour?’ Seriously, can someone explain to me how the fuck Jack Robinson is not on Tour. A thousand journeyman flowers can bloom but we can’t get Jack in the big leagues?

Second thought, is Kieren Perrow starting to look a little bit gaunt these days, maybe a bit…haunted? It’s not like his superior skills at determining when to run and when to go on hold, and whatever else the Commissioner does are going to be in high demand at the Wave Ranch. Ergo, the WSL Commissioner looks like being one of those jobs like chimney sweeps and bus drivers that will be steamrolled by the techno-utopian avalanche.

Jack gave two pressers, both classic. The first, in a baritone, when he declared “It’s not toddler North Point” and the second, in a falsetto where I could not make out what he was saying because I was so stunned at the pitch. It was like watching Barry Gibb from the Bee Gees warming up at a sound check. This is obviously a very loosely wound cat.

Eight-foot North Point is a hectic deal, if you haven’t surfed. It’s no wave for gimps. Keanu Asing made a deep one and backed it up to make double figures for the first time this year and make a heat. Prediction: Asing to win the Surf Ranch CT with sterling meat and potatoes surfing after Filipe Toledo falls on both waves attempting 15-foot alley-oops. Asing fails to requalify and comes back 2020 as Olympic Coach for Team USA.

Heat 3: Jack Robbo was back against Owen and Miguel Pupo. It was finally made clear why he was surfing North Point before the comp started. It was a repercharge heat from the Trials to see who would replace the injured Caio Ibelli. Jack just went straight back to doing what he was doing before, completely toying with the wave and making it look delectably attainable for the average gimp. Easy win. How can a guy not even on Tour come out and suddenly look like a red hot favourite to win the event? How can the best in the world suddenly be made to look second-rate by a guy who can’t get out of the QS?

Sophie, fix the broken QS.

You were pining to see John Florence in round four against Mikey Wright and Wade Carmichael. A very big match-up. Crucial heat for the champ’s confidence. Peter Mel said John looked “gritty” but when he strode down the beach he looked more nervous to me, like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. And that Le Rouge et Le Noir board spray just seems a bit downbeat. Ten minutes in, John sat motionless out the back. Remember how the “old” JJF, when he was a kid would do that? Just sit there, staring out to sea. Then he seemed to snap back to reality, maybe the coache’s plan suddenly impinged on his cognition. He looked weak and shaky on his first couple of rides.

Mikey Wright hassled him a bit and with priority took a bomb that destroyed him. That was the turning point. John relaxed and started to surf, pounding away on some deeper tubes and adding deep rail work to the end section. He came off looking every inch the cucumber but he looked vulnerable despite declaring in the presser that he hadn’t thought of Mikey Wright at all. That statement lacked credibility and his mental state was far more revealed when he said that in the break between Bells and Margaret River he’d “figured some things out”. He surfed like a man struggling with mind noise and lack of confidence until he finally snapped into the reality of where he was. Eight-foot barrelling surf.

A tetchy Julian Wilson made a promise after his heat win “not to be timid”. And in the final heat of the day a herd of freesurfers seemed to mock Filipe Toledo’s ability to “hold the space”. He did not rise to the occasion. He did not hold the space.

What a weird sport.

The highlight of the day comes from a wildcard who gets a second chance in a heat before the main event even kicks off and then makes the rest of the field look like Chris Hitchens’ “herd of anti’s in search of a climax”.

The one surf photo that has dominated photo agencies, that blazes fire and foam in ad campaigns spruiking medicine and wave-pools and betting agencies and accessories and even on the cover of a book is a mysterious shot of an almost-tubed unnamed surfer by an unnamed photographer.

It is a photograph neither lovely nor noble but it does have one important characteristic.

It’s cheap.

Thirteen bucks will get you, and your company, full commercial use of this image.

As seen here:

Here, in a Bali surf shop advertising the surf accessories company Ocean and Earth. Photo by Chris Binns whose Facebook post caused a waterfall of appearances of the photo.

Here:

As an inducement to visit Indonesian medical clinics. Photo by Peter Neely.

Here:

At Denpasar airport! Photo by Kieran Burke

And in an artist’s impression of an Australian wavepool.

The first time I saw it, I figured it was an ordinary shot of either Phil Macdonald (because of the O and E ad) and, later, revised it to be a very, very bad shot of Dave Rastovich, perhaps an out of the noted Bill Morris. (“Not me,” said Billy.)

A sleeveless BeachGrit t-shirt (cut so it reveals enough skin for gals to be “sexy” but not so much as to appear “slutty” or “whorish” and for men it shows the curve of the upper pectoral and any protrusion of the latissimus dorsi) sent to your hovel to the first reader who obliterates the mystery.

SHARE

Loading comments...

Trending: Surfing officially “new golf!”

Cyclists all over the world were crying into their lattes this morning after receiving the bad news. For the past several years, cycling has claimed the coveted title of The New Golf. But now, the lycra-clad horde has been relegated by none other than surfing. If you imagine surfing as the purview of bohemians with beards, think again.

Surfing’s new status as the go-to pastime for rich men with too much time on their hands comes thanks to the efforts of eleven-time world champion Kelly Slater. It’s not surprising that Slater would chase the New Golf title for surfing, given his long-standing love for actual golf, the kind played on manicured lawns in scenic places. Chasing balls around the grass with a titanium stick has long been a favorite pastime of the world champion.

On Monday Slater cemented surfing’s status by inviting two professional golfers to play in his now-famous wave pool. According to the World Surf League, Rafael Cabrera-Bello and Adam Scott were the lucky golfers invited. They described the experience as “mind-blowing.” Golf, surfing, it’s all the same now.

Cycling lured the men who martini with promises of fitness and shiny carbon toys. You too can have sculpted, shaved quads, and wear tight, stretchy pants, cycling promised. You, well-off man with time and money to burn, can drop $20k on a shiny new carbon bicycle. You can even buy a better bicycle than your buddy and flaunt it on the next lunch ride. He’ll be so jealous.

But too bad you wasted all that money, because cycling is totally over. Now, it’s all about surfing. You’re going to have to trade your lycra for neoprene and your carbon composite bicycles for decidedly retro fiber glass surfboards. Don’t fret! You can still have carbon fins, so it’s not totally over for you. Instead of the joy of the open road, angry drivers, and winning the lunch ride, you’ll get to salt water up your nose and angry locals in your face.

If you really want to impress your rich bros, you can book a private session at Slater’s wave pool. Because he was so determined to transform surfing into the new golf, Slater built a wave pool. To be sure, Lemoore is considerably less exotic than cycling the Passo di Gavia or dropping a hole-in-one in Carmel. But really, anyone can do those things.

The wave pool is exclusive. And you, man with more money than sense, you love exclusive. You have no idea how to surf, but you didn’t know a derailleur from a doornail when you bought your first bike. Your bullet-proof confidence will serve you well in your fledgling pursuit of surfing stoke.

Even better you can quit shaving your legs, which your newly acquired trophy wife hates anyway. She also says she hates your spindly T-Rex arms, so you better start paddling as soon as possible. And you won’t make that annoying clicky-clacky sound when you visit your local coffee shop. You’ll be wearing flip flops and ordering a whole milk latte with extra chia seeds now.

Cyclists must now sadly accept that they’re no longer number one. Cycling, as past tense as Eisenhower. Surfing is the new golf — and if you don’t like it, blame Slater.

SHARE

Loading comments...

Bodysurfer pictured doing a trick.

Da Hui event replaced by Bodysurfing Classic!

The city managers of Honolulu sure are up to some odd tricks. You remember the major brouhaha from a few months back wherein the World Surf League dreamed of beginning its season at Pipeline instead of ending and therefore applied for a slot in January as opposed to December. The City of Honolulu said, “No.” And I can’t recall the specific reasons but do remember something about missing deadlines.

As the dust settled, anyhow, the League let it slip that they are not the only ones having trouble securing permits. Da Hui, it was whispered, had lost its Backdoor Shootout too.

“Bullshit” I thought and promptly phoned Da Hui co-founder and all around good guy Eddie Rothman.

He indeed confirmed that there were some issues and did so with a laugh. You should re-read again here but taste an excerpt first.

They take it away every year. Every year we go back and get it. Every single year. They took away the Duke Kahanamoku Classic in favor of a bodysurfing event and they don’t care. The State of Hawaii does not care, at all, about the Hawaiian people and this is what they do every chance they get. You can fill out a permit in Hawaii…they don’t care if you lie or whatever you do. Last year the director, how’s this, she took away our contest. She said we didn’t get the permit on time, right? So the independent council came and deemed her actions an erroneous abuse of power and made her sign the permit back to us. After getting the permit back last year from the independent council she went and took it again. They’re a band of idiots. They are so stupid. And then again this year. We have this happen every year.

The idea of a bodysurfing event rolling over a surf event surprised me but the city managers of Honolulu must love bodysurfing because they have done it again, this time officially giving the Backdoor Shootout’s window to Alan Lennard and his Pipeline Bodysurfing Classic. Hawaii News Now picks up the story.

The city’s Parks and Recreation Department has denied a permit for a popular North Shore surf contest that highlighted local surfers on epic waves.

Da Hui and its supporters are furious after the Backdoor Shootout was bumped from next year’s roster at Pipeline. The department gave the nod to a small bodysurfing contest that scored higher on its application.

Da Hui went to Instagram to complain that the permit was going to a single individual for a half-day contest. The man, Alan Lennard, plans to run the Pipeline Bodysurfing Classic, last held in 2011.

“I had no choice but to apply for multiple time slots to see if I could regain a time slot on the Ehukai calendar,” said Lennard.

The reaction on social media has been swift, with the majority supporting Da Hui. But both sides aren’t happy with the permitting process. Right now, Da Hui’s spokeswoman said the decisions are made by a panel of three non-surfers in the Parks Department. She wants the panelists to have more knowledge than what’s on paper.

“You actually have to go there and learn and kinda take into consideration what these contests are about and who it directly affects,” said Da Hui’s Mahina Chillingworth.

“The rules are complicated. They’re confusing. And my assessment is I don’t even see how they can really work,” said Lennard.

The city got 26 applications for contests next season, with 23 of them vying for Pipeline at around the same time. The Parks Department recently denied a schedule change from the World Surf League, which then threatened to pull out of Hawaii.

A spokesman for Mayor Kirk Caldwell said he’s still moving ahead to form an advisory committee of surfers and company representatives to create new guidelines to avoid future conflicts. But both sides are skeptical.

“I understand that the rules are going to be changed come 2019 and ’20, but what are we going to do right now?” said Chillingworth.

“He’s a lame duck mayor, so I’m not sure if this really will happen,” said Lennard.

Da Hui is appealing the decision. Caldwell’s spokesman said he will allow the process to continue through the Parks Department.

And I wonder if the World Surf League and Da Hui will team up to show the city how things work? If I was in charge, I think I would just paddle the Shootout out while the bodysurfers are in the water doing their event. Fun for everyone! But what would you do? Are you Team City or Team Country?

P.S. While searching for images of bodysurfing the below popped up. Apparently taking this sort of picture is called “bodysurfing” now. Who knew?